selected ufo cases

All Cases: Sorted by Oldest First

August, 20, 1949 - Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States

Clyde Tombaugh was the American astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto. On August 20, 1949, he observed a UFO that appeared as a geometrically arranged group of six-to-eight rectangles of light, window-like in appearance and yellowish-green in color, which moved from northwest to southeast over Las Cruces, New Mexico.
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Source: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
ID: 355

1950 -

In the 1950s Cronkite was part of a pool of news reporters brought out to a small South Pacific island to watch the test of a new Air Force missile... a large disc-type UFO appeared on the scene. Cronkite guessed that the object was about 50-60 feet in diameter, a dull grey color and had no visible means of propulsion. As Air Force guards ran toward the UFO with their dogs, the disc hovered about 30 feet off of the ground."
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Source: Bill Knell, UFO researcher
ID: 1178

March, 17, 1950 - Farmington, New Mexico, United States

"Fully half of this town's population still is certain today that it saw space ships or some strange aircraft -- hundreds of them zooming through the skies yesterday. Estimates of the number ranged from & quotes several to more that 500. The objects appeared to play tag high in the air. At times they streaked away at almost unbelievable speeds."
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Source: Farmington Daily Times, March 18, 1950
ID: 880

March, 20, 1950 - New York City, New York, United States

This cylindrical-appearing UFO was photographed over New York City on March 20, 1950. The photographer's name was deleted from Project Blue Book's files -- as were most names when the material was finally declassified and released. Upon investigating the report, Project Grudge officially labeled it: "the moon"!
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Source: Knight
ID: 407

Case Type: SummaryReport
Features:
Photo

March, 20, 1950 - Stuttgart, Arkansas, United States

Chicago & Southern Airlines Capt. Jack Adams and First Officer G. W. Anderson, Jr., were flying a commercial DC-3, when they saw an object approaching the airliner at high speed. It appeared to be circular (disk-shaped), with a diameter of approximately 100 feet. The bottom side appeared to have 9 to 12 symmetrical oval or circular portholes. Capt. Adams estimated the speed to be in excess of 1000 mph.
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April, 24, 1950 - Varese, Italy

Bruno Facchini heard and saw sparks coming from a dark, hovering object, near which a man dressed in tight-fitting clothes and wearing a helmet seemed to be making repairs. Three other men were seen near the craft. The full realization of what he was witnessing sent Bruno into a full run away from the frightening encounter, at which point one of the beings projected a "light" from a tube and the witness fell to the ground. When the work was finished, a trap through which light had been shining was closed and the craft took off.
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Source: Ezio Bernardini, excerpt from FSR 1987 No. 4
ID: 746

May, 11, 1950 - McMinnville, Oregon, United States

Two of the most notorious UFO photos of all time were taken on a farm near Mcminnville by a farmer named Paul A. Trent. Beyond many such cases, these two photos have withstood the test of time--through generations of researchers.
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Source: STUDIOVNI
ID: 258

Case Type: MajorCase
Features:
Photo

1951 - Chorwon, Korea, Republic

"We suddenly noticed on our right-hand side what appeared to be a jack-o-lantern come wafting down across the mountain... It had an orange glow in the beginning... But then this object approached us. And it turned a blue-green brilliant light... and then, we were attacked. We were swept by some form of a ray that was emitted in pulses... then I saw it shoot off at a 45 degree angle, that quick, just there and gone."
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February, 10, 1951 - Gandor, Newfoundland, Canada

US Naval Reserve Lieutenant Graham Bethune, copilot of Flight 125, first sighted a huge object [at least] 300 feet in diameter on a near collision course with their aircraft. "A rough estimate would be at least 300 feet in diameter, over 1,000 miles per hour in speed, and approached to within 5 miles of the aircraft."
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Source: Disclosure Project / NICAP website / ufologien.net
ID: 980

February, 19, 1951 - Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

In 1951 a huge cigar-shaped UFO, which hovered over the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro, was photographed from an East African Airways plane flying in the vicinity, and witnessed by the crew and passengers. After remaining motionless for a considerable period of time, the object suddenly climbed steeply and disappeared. The movie film was developed and reportedly showed a clear and sizeable image of the object, according to the Natal Mercury.
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Case Type: StandardCase
Features:
Pilot/Aircrew, Group Sighting

Formation of 18 silvery, rotating, disc-shaped objects, each one with a dome, come down over a nuclear test site, hover for 10 to 15 minutes, and then depart, at an angle, vanishing out of sight in seconds."
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Source: NICAP, Walter Webb
ID: 35

Case Type: StandardCase
Features:
Military, Nuclear Facility

1952 - United States

In the summer of 1952 a United States Air Force F-86 jet interceptor shot at a flying saucer. This fact, like so many others that make up the full flying saucer story has never before been told... The object was definitely round and flat saucer shaped. The pilot described it as being "like a doughnut without a hole."
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Case Type: StandardCase
Features:
Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar

1952 - Puerto Maldonado, Peru

On July 19, 1952, the attention of Customs Inspector Sr. Domingo Troncoso was called to a very strange cigar-shaped flying object over the river area. The big dirigible-shaped craft was flying horizontally and fairly low in the sky, passing from right to left from the observers position. It was leaving a dense trail of thick smoke, vapor, or substance on its wake. The object was estimated to be over a hundred feet long.
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Source: Wendelle Stevens / B.J. Booth / Mark Cashman
ID: 876

Case Type: StandardCase
Features:
Photo, E-M Effects

April, 20, 1952 - Flint, Michigan, United States

A naval aviation student, his wife, and several others were at a drive-in movie, during which time they saw several groups of objects fly over. There were from two to nine objects in a group and there were about 20 groups. The objects were shaped like conventional aircraft. The unaccountable feature of the objects was that each had a red glow surrounding it and was glowing itself, although it was a cloudless night.
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Case Type: SummaryReport
Features:
Multiple UFOs, Group Sighting

April, 25, 1952 - San Jose, California, United States

Directly over a building across the street was a small, metallic-looking disc, tilted at about a 20 degree angle and rotating around a vertical axis, wobbling "like the motion of a disc in a water meter". The distance was estimated to be about 50 ft, and the disc appeared to be 4-5 feet in diameter
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Source: NICAP, Dr. James McDonald
ID: 34

Case Type: StandardCase
Features:
Scientist/Engineer

May, 1952 - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States

From the witness: "Suddenly one of these objects appeared at close range on our port bow at a low elevation. It was disc shaped and consisted of a very bright light with black windows running around the whole side which was visible to us. It maintained perfect station on us for at least fifteen minutes. I scanned the object with binoculars attempting to see into the windows but saw nothing."
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